Heart of Gold
Heart of Gold Episode Number: Season 4, Episode 18 Directed By: Billy Gierhart Air Date: April 12, 2015 Previous Episode: Best Laid Plans Next Episode Sympathy for the De Vil "Heart of Gold" is the eighteenth episode of Season 4 of the American fairytale/drama series Once Upon a Time, which aired on April 12, 2015. In this episode, Emma Swan must deal with the truth about her parents' past with Maleficent, while she tracks down The Author, whom she must find before Gold does. As Gold's quest for his happy ending grows more urgent, he resorts to blackmailing Regina in order to help him. Nine weeks before this, Mr. Gold needs Robin's help. Back in the Enchanted Forest, Rumplestiltskin enlists Robin Hood to go to Oz to steal an elixir from Zelena. Plot 'Opening Sequence' The Emerald City looms in the forest. 'In the Character's Past' Back in "Sherwood Forest many years ago," Robin Hood is at his bar, when the Sheriff of Nottingham shows up and threatens his nemesis over taxes and gives him just two days to get his money in order. That night after closing, Rumplestiltskin appears with a proposition: Rumplestiltskin will solve Robin’s monetary issues, if Robin will steal something for him in return. Rumplestiltskin informs Robin that they’ll have to go to a realm called the Land of Oz to acquire a potion called the elixir of the wounded heart, which can cure hearts both physically and emotionally. Robin goes through a portal into Oz, where after the portal lands on a guard after he steps out, Robin runs into Will Scarlet, who was just captured by the aforementioned guard, and frees him. The two then agree to work together, though Will wants some of the elixir for himself. Robin then takes the guard’s clothing as a disguise and uses it to break into the Wicked Witch of the West’s palace, where he bottles some of the elixir, only to have Zelena catch him, immediately assuming he is there on Rumplestiltskin’s behalf. He narrowly escapes but lies to Will, telling him that he didn’t get gather any of the elixir. Before Robin leaves to return to Sherwood Forest, Will tells him that he is trying to mend his own broken heart, which has been crushed since his sister died. As Robin leaves to return to his realm, Will notices that a vial of the elixir has been sneakily placed in his pocket. Back in the Sherwood Forest, Robin is in his bar all alone when the Sheriff shows up looking for his money and is ready to cuff Robin, when The Merry Men led by Little John appear with arrows ready on aim; they then steal the Sheriff’s money and distribute it to the poor townspeople. As Robin and Marian make plans to stay together on the run, he gives her the six-leaf clover of Oz, which would later be the catalyst for Marian's demise by Zelena during Emma Swan and Captain Hook's stint in the Enchanted Forest. 'Storybrooke' As Emma and her parents search the woods for The Author, Mary Margaret tells Emma that they met him before, and David adds that he was the one responsible for placing them on the path to destroy Maleficent’s child. David explains that they didn't understand what they did out of fear, but Emma snaps and says they’ve been lying to her and adds that she became the anointed savior because they destroyed someone else’s soul. The Author stays one step ahead of them and snaps a small branch off a tree, then sharpens the end to a fine point. Out of nowhere Gold shows up and says he knows about magic quills and says he knows they have to come from an enchanted tree, since there are none of those in Storybrooke. The Author curses and goes to walk away but Gold says he should come with him, then he shows The Author that he has a magic quill and tells him that he has to write him some happy endings, and when The Author sees Emma and the Charmings coming, he agrees to go along with Gold and disappear in a cloud of dark magic. Back in Regina’s crypt, Regina wakes up and discovers her hands are tied and sees Gold standing there, as he tells her that he has the author, but says he can’t let her find her happiness at his expense, adding that he lost everything and she will too if she doesn’t obey. Regina then panics after she sees Gold with the phone number for Robin Hood that she had in her pocket, but then uses his magic to free her so she can call him. Its nine weeks later after the events of the outside world, when Regina called Robin, only to be in shock to have her half-sister Zelena answer, explaining her domestic life with Robin, and tells Regina that they will be seeing each other very soon. After the phone call, Gold tells Regina that in order to protect Robin Hood, they have no choice but help turn Emma’s heart to darkness. 'Outside Storybrooke' Nine weeks earlier, after Robin kissed Regina before stepping over the magical boundary of Storybrooke (and nine weeks before the aforementioned phone call that Regina made) to leave with Marian and Roland, they have entered New York City, where Robin tells Marian that Regina gave her the keys to Neal/Baelfire’s apartment, but as they check for directions, a man on a bike snatches Marian’s purse and Robin tries to give chase, then steals a horse and goes after the thief; he runs the guy down and tackles him then stops himself, saying a thief who steals from those in need has no honor. Unfortunately, As they have now settled in the apartment, Marian is already not happy about living in New York City, despite her feelings about Robin Hood and Regina. They then hear someone knocking on the door, and they see Gold there; he wants Robin and his family out of his son's apartment, saying that Regina told him about The Author and what will happen to her if her happy endings do not come true, but even as Robin refuses to give up the place Gold starts suffering chest pains and is taken to the hospital, where he is told that he had a heart attack. Gold explains to Robin the only thing that can cure him now is the elixir of the wounded heart, which is actually being kept safe nearby at a place called "The Wizard of Oak." Gold tells Robin where to find it, and Robin breaks in to steal it just in time to escape the police, upsetting Marian in the process. Robin then brings the elixir to Gold in the hospital, then makes a deal that in exchange for the elixir that Gold allows Robin and his family to keep the house. As Gold drinks it, he realizes it doesn’t work, when out of nowhere, Marian enters the room with the real elixir, having swapped the real bottle; it turns out Marian was actually Zelena, who Gold discovers had been alive all along and not dead. Zelena's soul had actually travelled back in time, where she killed the real Marian back in the Enchanted Forest, by using the six-leaf clover of Oz to make Marian vanish and to transform herself into Marian. This was part of her plan to ruin Regina’s happiness, and to add the misery it's now causing to Gold, which is certainly making Zelena happy too. Gold briefly flatlines, then comes to afterwards with Zelena telling him that she wanted to make Robin fall in love with her, but he just couldn’t, making her realize that she needed The Author to change her story, and since Gold is the one that can find him, she proposes that in exchange for the only elixir that could save him, he agrees to the deal to find The Author. As Gold is finally released from the hospital, Robin give him some possessions that were left in the house while they discuss about Marian and how Robin doesn’t feel anything for her anymore, although Gold, neglecting to tell Robin the truth about what happened to his actual wife, tells Robin to pursue his happiness with whomever that may be. Robin then goes home and tells "Marian" that he wants to stay with her, no matter what they have to go through, and to prove it he deletes Regina’s phone number from his cell phone in front of "Marian." As Robin starts kissing his "wife," he is unaware that from what viewers see in the mirror’s reflection, it's Zelena kissing Robin instead. This would eventually later lead to the phone call that Regina made later on as alluded by Gold in Storybrooke nine weeks later. Cast Starring *Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard *Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan *Lana Parrilla as The Evil Queen/Regina Mills *Josh Dallas as Prince Charming/David Nolan/Prince James *Emilie de Ravin as Belle *Colin O'Donoghue as Hook *Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills *Michael Socha as Will Scarlet *Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold Guest Starring *Rebecca Mader as The Wicked Witch/Zelena *Sean Maguire as Robin Hood *Patrick Fischler as The Author/Isaac Heller *Christie Laing as Maid Marian *Wil Traval as Sheriff of Nottingham *Jason Burkart as Little John *Raphael Alejandro as Roland Trivia Production Notes= *The title card features the Emerald City. *The title of this episode was announced by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on January 27, 2015. *The episode was discussed during the summer of 2014, conceived in November 2014, outlined in December 2014, and written in January 2015. *During a concept meeting, the production team was described as "aflutter" because of something "outrageous" in the script. *The name on the bus that Robin Hood and his family takes from Maine to New York, is Polar Star Coach Lines. The same company name appears on the sign at the bus stop where young Emma meets Lily in "Lily". The same name appears on the bus that travels from Maine to Boston in "Only You", and the one that brings Henry and Violet from Maine to New York in the same episode. *Sean Maguire filmed the horse chase scene while riding a mechanical horse, while a stunt double rode a real horse. *Zelena's Marian disguise had been planned for a long time. The show creators came up with the twist when "Marian" was brought back in Season Three. Sean Maguire did not know Marian was going to be revealed as Zelena until the show runners told him. *When Robin and Will hug, there is an overhead shot where the Tin Man appears lying on the side of the Yellow Brick Road. |-|Goofs= *The date on the heart monitor screen over Mr. Gold's hospital bed is "25 Dec 14"; however, according to the timeline of the show, the episode takes place in 2013. Nor could the flashback take place in December 2013, because the episode clearly states that both the scene where Robin Hood and his family leave Storybrooke, and the New York City flashback, take place nine weeks before the frame story. However, "Heroes and Villains" establishes that Robin left town shortly after Mother Superior's disappearance in "Fall", and according to the missing person form in "Darkness on the Edge of Town", Mother Superior was reported missing on November 6. |-|Other Notes= FILMING LOCATIONS *The streets of New York City were filmed on West Hasting Street, Victory Square, and Gastown in Vancouver, where production for Once Upon a Time is based. Vancouver Community College doubles as Our Lady Providence Medical Center for exterior shots. The empty Pappas Furs building on the west side of Victory Square doubles as The Wizard of Oak furniture shop. *The scenes by the magic door in Oz were filmed on a blue-screen set built at The Bridge Studios. While the set was dressed to look like a forest, the background and the Yellow Brick Road were added digitally in post-production. *The final scene with Robin Hood and Maid Marian in the Enchanted Forest, was filmed in East Burnaby's Robert Burnaby Park.